William T. Piper Memorial Airport is a city-owned public

airport An airport is an aerodrome with extended facilities, mostly for commercial air transport. Airports usually consists of a landing area, which comprises an aerially accessible open space including at least one operationally active surfa ...

two miles east of

Lock Haven Lock Haven is the county seat of Clinton County, in the U.S. state of Pennsylvania. Located near the confluence of the West Branch Susquehanna River and Bald Eagle Creek, it is the principal city of the Lock Haven Micropolitan Statistical Area ...

, in

Clinton County, Pennsylvania Clinton County is a county in the Commonwealth of Pennsylvania. As of the 2020 census, the population was 37,450. Its county seat is Lock Haven. The county was created on June 21, 1839, from parts of Centre and Lycoming Counties. Its name is ...

. The National Plan of Integrated Airport Systems for 2011–2015 categorized it as a ''

general aviation General aviation (GA) is defined by the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO) as all civil aviation aircraft operations with the exception of commercial air transport or aerial work, which is defined as specialized aviation services ...

'' facility. Named for William T. Piper, the airport is at the foot of the

Bald Eagle Mountain Bald Eagle Mountain – once known locally as Muncy Mountain – is a stratigraphic ridge in the Ridge-and-Valley Appalachians of central Pennsylvania, United States, running east of the Allegheny Front and northwest of Mount Nittany. It lies al ...

ridge, between the

West Branch Susquehanna River The West Branch Susquehanna River is one of the two principal branches, along with the North Branch, of the Susquehanna River in the Northeastern United States. The North Branch, which rises in upstate New York, is generally regarded as the exten ...

and Bald Eagle Creek. It covers , has two

runway According to the International Civil Aviation Organization (ICAO), a runway is a "defined rectangular area on a land aerodrome prepared for the landing and takeoff of aircraft". Runways may be a man-made surface (often asphalt, concre ...

s and is operated by the City of Lock Haven.

Facilities

The airport covers 112 acres (45 ha) at an

elevation The elevation of a geographic location is its height above or below a fixed reference point, most commonly a reference geoid, a mathematical model of the Earth's sea level as an equipotential gravitational surface (see Geodetic datum § Ver ...

of 556 feet (169 m). It has two parallel runways: 9L/27R is 3,799 by 75 feet (1,158 x 23 m)

asphalt Asphalt, also known as bitumen (, ), is a sticky, black, highly viscous liquid or semi-solid form of petroleum. It may be found in natural deposits or may be a refined product, and is classed as a pitch. Before the 20th century, the term ...

; 9R/27L is 2,179 by 100 feet (664 x 30 m) turf. In the year ending October 13, 2011 the airport had 30,400 aircraft operations, average 83 per day: 99%

, <1%

air taxi An air taxi is a small commercial aircraft that makes short flights on demand. In 2001 air taxi operations were promoted in the United States by a NASA and aerospace industry study on the potential Small Aircraft Transportation System (SATS) ...

, and <1% military. 60 aircraft were then based at the airport: 85% single-engine, 8% multi-engine, 2% jet, 3%

glider Glider may refer to: Aircraft and transport Aircraft * Glider (aircraft), heavier-than-air aircraft primarily intended for unpowered flight ** Glider (sailplane), a rigid-winged glider aircraft with an undercarriage, used in the sport of glidin ...

, and 2%

ultralight Ultralight aviation (called microlight aviation in some countries) is the flying of lightweight, 1- or 2-seat fixed-wing aircraft. Some countries differentiate between weight-shift control and conventional three-axis control aircraft with aile ...

. The airport is home to AvSport of Lock Haven, a

flight school Flight training is a course of study used when learning to pilot an aircraft. The overall purpose of primary and intermediate flight training is the acquisition and honing of basic airmanship skills. Flight training can be conducted under a str ...

specializing in

Sport Pilot Pilot certification in the United States is typically required for an individual to act as a pilot-in-command of an aircraft. It is regulated by the Federal Aviation Administration (FAA), a branch of the U.S. Department of Transportation (USD ...

training in

Light Sport Aircraft A light-sport aircraft (LSA), or light sport aircraft, is a fairly new category of small, lightweight aircraft that are simple to fly. LSAs tend to be heavier and more sophisticated than ultralight (aka "microlight") aircraft, but LSA restrictio ...

. The Piper Aviation Museum is located at the southwest end of the airport, preserving the history and legacy of the Piper Aircraft Corporation which manufactured aircraft from that location prior to relocating to

Vero Beach, Florida Vero Beach is a city in and the seat of Indian River County, Florida, United States. Vero Beach is the second most populous city in Indian River County. Abundant in beaches and wildlife, Vero Beach is located on Florida's Treasure Coast. It is thi ...

Annual fly-in

Every summer the airport holds a Piper fly-in. Hundreds of Piper aircraft and pilots attend, pilots share stories and the public is welcomed to attend. Piper Cubs are the aircraft of choice at this fly-in. Many people also visit the Piper Museum on the airport grounds.

Incidents and accidents

On June 20, 2010, a

Cessna 210 The Cessna 210 Centurion is a six-seat, high-performance, retractable-gear, single-engined, high-wing general-aviation aircraft. First flown in January 1957, it was produced by Cessna until 1986. Design and development The early Cessn ...

chartered by a federal agency crashed into a neighborhood directly off the west end of runway 9L/27R. The crash site was less than a block from the airfield, all three people on board died. The aircraft was making an approach to the airport and had notified

Air traffic control Air traffic control (ATC) is a service provided by ground-based air traffic controllers who direct aircraft on the ground and through a given section of controlled airspace, and can provide advisory services to aircraft in non-controlled airs ...

of low fuel but did not issue an emergency. When the plane crashed it struck a telephone pole, a porch and three cars before coming to a rest in the middle of a street. One person on the ground had some minor injured when he was sitting in his SUV when it was struck by the wing of the plane. Eye witness accounts say the sound of the crash sounded like "A horrible metal crunching sound" and "Thought it was a car crash at first then I saw the plane". The

Federal Aviation Administration The Federal Aviation Administration (FAA) is the largest transportation agency of the U.S. government and regulates all aspects of civil aviation in the country as well as over surrounding international waters. Its powers include air traffic ...

later stated that the aircraft left William T Piper airport and experienced

Engine failure A turbine engine failure occurs when a turbine engine unexpectedly stops producing power due to a malfunction other than fuel exhaustion. It often applies for aircraft, but other turbine engines can fail, like ground-based turbines used in power ...

and low fuel readings so it then turned around to try and land. The FAA then released a report stating that the fuel tank had a leak and was losing "exponential amounts of fuel during a short period of time" and other occurrences contributed to the crash of the aircraft. On June 20, 2014, a vintage single engine Taylor J-2 attending the fly-in crashed shortly after takeoff from the airport, the pilot and one passenger walked away with no injuries after landing in a tree in a backyard. Witnesses at the fly-in reported seeing the aircraft stall several times, barely making it over the fence that surrounds the airport before crashing. Federal Aviation Administration records show the plane was manufactured in 1936.

References

External links

William T. Piper Memorial Airport
City of Lock Haven website
William T. Piper Memorial Airport

fixed-base operator A fixed-base operator (FBO) is an organization granted the right by an airport to operate at the airport and provide aeronautical services such as fueling, hangaring, tie-down and parking, aircraft rental, aircraft maintenance, flight instruction, ...

website
William T. Piper Memorial Airport
at Pennsylvania DOT Bureau of Aviation
AvSport of Lock Haven
flight school at airport
Aerial image as of April 1999
from

USGS The United States Geological Survey (USGS), formerly simply known as the Geological Survey, is a scientific agency of the United States government. The scientists of the USGS study the landscape of the United States, its natural resources, a ...

The National Map ''The National Map'' is a collaborative effort of the United States Geological Survey (USGS) and other federal, state, and local agencies to improve and deliver topographic information for the United States. The purpose of the effort is to pro ...

'' * {{US-airport-minor, LHV, LHV, KLHV Airports in Pennsylvania Transportation buildings and structures in Clinton County, Pennsylvania West Branch Susquehanna Valley Lock Haven, Pennsylvania

Facilities

Annual fly-in

Incidents and accidents

See also

References

External links